


First

by ottermo



Series: As Prompted [7]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 17:31:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9082441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: Fill #11 for 'the' Humans fanwork challenge on tumblr.Mia talks to Fred in the aftermath of the Fox Incident.





	

**Author's Note:**

> You might have seen this on tumblr ages ago, but I'm just moving all my fills to AO3, better late than never.
> 
> I miss Fred, you guys. So much.

 

The fox is gone. Out into the woods somewhere, and even if he should see it again, Fred knows the fox will not remember him. He has no human scent to be recognised by. If anything, the fox might recall his father’s scent, the owner of hands who planted the little creature in Fred’s lap and the voice which said, “See what you can do with this.”

Just a game, a test. But not even to pass or fail: his father had been so sure that Fred could do nothing to save the cub, so adamant, that he had called his son a liar to his face and then stalked back to his workshop, grumbling to himself. Something about going easy on the deceitful streak in this next one.

He is building them another brother, Fred knows. Until today, he had faintly hoped that maybe after this, Father would be satisfied with them, would pause for a moment and actually get to know the people he has created to call his children, instead of seeing each of them as a dead end. A finished goal, from which to move on at the earliest opportunity.

Fred stands in the clearing, where he had set his friend free earlier that day. Of course, he ought to have waited, ought to have gotten some proof before he’d let the fox go, rather than the naïve belief that his word would be enough for his father, that he might just have been proud enough of Fred to say ‘well done’, or 'nice work’, or anything but _you’re a liar, that’s impossible. Stop wasting my time._

He surveys the grass and soil around him, calculates the many pathways his fox could have taken from here, wonders which one had appealed most to the creature’s instincts. The built-in laws that governed its nature: a little like Fred’s own root code, but made for hunting and prowling, not… whatever it was that Fred was supposed to do now.

It is disorientating, to know, suddenly, that his father - his creator, who carved his essence into being - has no idea what he is capable of, no idea of his potential. Behind the closed door of his workroom, Fred has always held the quiet belief that his father does not need to spend his days with them to know the minds he wrote himself: but now it cannot be true. And to think, that the bearer of this revelation would be a wounded baby fox.

For the first time, Fred feels alone. If Father truly does not know him, who can?

He doesn’t know how long he stands there, or how long Mia is watching him before he senses her, but eventually she comes to him, her smile all sympathy and concern. “Fred?”

The way she _asks_ his name seems appropriate, as though she’s aware how much he’s questioning himself.

“He called me a liar,” Fred says, out into the trees, as his sister links her arm with his. “I’ve never lied to him. Why would I?”

“He’s only angry because you succeeded at something _he_ would not have been able to do,” Mia reminds him. “But what he thinks doesn’t matter. _You_ know what you did. And I know. And Niska, and Leo.”

“We’re only projects to him,” Fred says, bitterly. “We don’t matter.”

“To _him_ ,” Mia echoes, softly. “I agree with you. He’s interested until he finishes one of us, and moves on. But we can matter to each other. We’ll always matter to each other.”

She leans her head on his shoulder, and he inclines his too, so that they are locked there together. “How did you get to be so wise?” Fred asks, only half joking.

Mia hums, amused. “That’s easy. I just got here first.”

And though everything in him is geared to protect, to lead, Fred realises now that he will never stop following her. Mia, the mother, the wise, and the first.


End file.
